SOFTS-Cocoa climbs on chart support, robusta hits 10-week low

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Cocoa futures on ICE rose on Tuesday, helped by improving technical signals, while robusta coffee slipped to its lowest in 10 weeks under pressure from speculative selling and waning expectations of a supply squeeze.

COCOA

* December London cocoa was up 27 pounds, or 1.8 percent, at 1,546 pounds a tonne by 1211 GMT.

* December New York cocoa rose $30, or 1.5 percent, to $1,977 a tonne.

* Prices were boosted in early trade when the market climbed over key technical resistance levels, dealers said.

* Fundamentally, the focus remained on the next crop in top grower Ivory Coast, with dealers noting there was little consensus in the market as to whether adverse weather in July and August would delay output.

* “We’re still trying to see where the crop development is,” said one dealer. “Since then, we’ve had better weather which has improved the situation but it’s still too early to tell.”

* Light rain and average sun last week in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa-growing areas supported crop development but overly humid conditions led to an outbreak of black pod disease in the Daloa region, farmers said on Monday.

* Indonesia’s cocoa bean imports were expected to triple this year due to lower domestic output, an industry association said on Tuesday.

COFFEE

* November robusta coffee was down $12, or 0.6 percent, at $2,009 a tonne after hitting a session low of $2,002, the weakest for the second position since June 23.

* Dealers said there was short-selling pressure in the market, with speculators driving prices lower.

* Sentiment has also been dampened by waning expectations that physical supplies will tighten dramatically late in the season, traders said.

* “Evidently there isn’t the physical supply issue that people were expecting and that has led to a bit of a wobble,” said one. “There’s a bit of fatigue in the market ultimately.”

* A sizeable decrease in the September open interest ahead of the start of the delivery period fuelled the downbeat sentiment, since it signalled there was potentially less appetite than initially expected, dealers said.